88 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



and has been ameiuled since that time. The piinciiKil jirovisions of the present 

 law are as follows: 



"(1) All natnral water conrses anil natural lakes, not in private ownership, 

 belong to the public, and are subject to appropriation for a beneficial use. 



"(2) The rijjht to the use of water so appropriated for irrigation shall be 

 appurtenant to the land irrigated and beneficial use shall be the basis, the 

 measure, and the limit of the right. 



"(3) The office of state engineer is created. 



"(4) The state enginetr shall prejiare l'(/r each sti-eani a list of the appro- 

 priations of water according to jjriority. 



"(5) The state board of irrigation shall divide the State of Nevada into 

 water districts and may appoint water commissioners to divide the water 

 according to the adjudications." 



Provision No. 4 has been interpreted to empower the state engineer to deter- 

 mine what rights are in existence and the l)nlletin describes this determination 

 for the Walker River, which was the first to be decided. 



Irrigation in Idaho, J. Stephenson. Jr. (U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. 

 Bui. 216, pp. 59, pi. 1). — This is one of the series of reports on irrigation in the 

 different States and Territories of the arid region, prepared especially for pro- 

 spective settlers on the irrigated lands in those States. It discusses climate, 

 water supply, agricultural resources, irrigated lands, and the various irrigation 

 projects which ai*e providing the water supplies for these lands. 



Drainage of irrigated lands in the San Joaquin Valley, California, S. For- 

 TiEK and V. .M. Cone ( f '. N. Dcpt. Agr.. Office E.ipl. Stas. Bill. 217. pp. 58, pis. 2, 

 figs. 9). — This bulletin gives the results of experiments in reclaiming lands at 

 Fresno and in the Modesto and Turlock irrigation districts, which w^ere for- 

 merly productive but which had been injured by the rise of ground water and 

 the accumulation of alkali. The experiments reported form a part of the 

 cooperative irrigation and drainage investigations carried on by the Office of 

 Experiment Stations and the State of California. 



In the Fresno district, lands which were formerly in highly productive vine- 

 yards, valued at $350 per acre up, had ceased to produce crops and were held at 

 values as low as $15 and $20 per acre, and used for pasture. In the Modesto 

 and Turlock districts a similar injury was beginning to be done, although these 

 lands had been under irrigation but a few years. The experiments were under- 

 taken for the purpose of working out methods of keeping down the level of the 

 ground w^ater and removing from the soil the alkali which had accumulated on 

 account of the heavy evaporation with the ground water near the surface. 



At Fresno the ground water rises from about the first of the year to the first 

 of May and from that time until the end of the year falls again. It remains, 

 however, within less than 4 feet of the surface for about half the year, thus 

 submerging the roots of plants and hindering their growth or destroying them 

 entii'cly. The experiments consisted of putting in tile drains leading to sumps, 

 from which the drainage water was pumped, with the object of holding the 

 ground water level below the root zones of plants, and the application of water 

 to wash the accumulated salts from the soil into the drains and thus have it 

 carried out through the pumps. Such experiments were carried out on tw'o 

 tracts, one of which had ceased to bear any vegetation and the other of which 

 was rapidly becoming so wet that crops were dying. In both cases the condi- 

 tions were so far relieved that good crops were grown. The report discusses 

 methods of putting in the drains, giving data as to cost. On the basis of these 

 experiments, which cover quite small areas, recommendations for the treatment 

 of all the affected areas in the Fresno district are made. 



